BlogHer - Words in a Row: Write with Birdie - Comments

OK... I am finally ready!

Heresyman — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 13:38:00 -0500

Looking forward to being the class clown...

Stever

Question EVERYTHING!

Delphine - I didn't know you blogged outside of Gather!

Birdie Jaworski — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 12:00:07 -0500

I'm so glad you joined us here at BlogHer! Yay!

Birdie
Birdie's BlogHer Blog
La Pajaro

ShellyMaara, big hugs!

Birdie Jaworski — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 11:58:50 -0500

I am so excited to post Tuesday's installment. I think you'll have a lot of fun during this series. :)

Birdie
Birdie's BlogHer Blog
La Pajaro

Frances, so glad you're here!

Birdie Jaworski — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 11:55:13 -0500

I am hopeful that we will learn much from each other. :)

Birdie
Birdie's BlogHer Blog
La Pajaro

Yay, lifeinmi!

Birdie Jaworski — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 11:51:25 -0500

I'm SO GLAD you are joining us! :) Give The Girl a kiss from me.

Birdie
Birdie's BlogHer Blog
La Pajaro

birdie, this is great!

barefoot — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 10:41:14 -0500

like some others here, you were one of my first "connections" on gather. I enjoyed all your stories there when I had a break from the kids. I especially love the one which started with the wrinkly woman answering the door naked. I often think of that woman (and your writing). Looking forward to participating in this.
-Delphine
http://barefootbooksmaine.com
http://mainemamas.com
http://lifesalad.blogspot.com

thank you, Birdie

ShellyMaara — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 09:12:40 -0500

I followed your link from Gather too, like someone else on here... I think it's a wonderful idea, and I'll be following this. I know it will be very useful... thank you for doing this, Birdie

Help With Writing Is Always Welcome

Frances Ellen — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 22:38:40 -0500

This sounds like a wonderful project. I'll be sure to check in every Tuesday to see what's cookin'.

Frances Ellen is the Narrator of the Story of Nadia - The continuing fiction story of a card reader named Nadia.

I can't make any promises ...

milife — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 19:49:42 -0500

But I am going to TRY to do this ... provided The Girl will let me stop reading to her for 15 seconds. Can't wait to see how you will shine this time!

pilgrimpoet - welcome to BlogHer!

Birdie Jaworski — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:22:35 -0500

I'm thrilled that you're joining us in the workshop! Just take your time getting to know the site and all the wonderful women (and men!) here. I think you'll enjoy it.

Birdie
Birdie's BlogHer Blog
La Pajaro

Susanne, so glad to have you on board!

Birdie Jaworski — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:21:03 -0500

Thanks for the comment. I can't wait to post the next article in the series, and I'm looking forward to seeing what folks decide to share.

Birdie
Birdie's BlogHer Blog
La Pajaro

Hello, here I am ... not

pilgrimpoet — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 11:46:32 -0500

Hello, here I am ... not going to post just yet, need time to feel my way around here. Thanks again!

Woohoo! A writing workshop!

Susanne Fritz — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 05:58:00 -0500

I'll sure be following this. (And maybe even write a thing or two, who knows.

Thank you for doing this.

creative.mother.thinking

Rose, welcome to BlogHer!

Birdie Jaworski — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 22:49:12 -0500

I'm so glad you're here! Yay! I love that photo of you and your sweet doggie, too. I'm glad to meet another woman who has come to writing a bit later in life. We will learn much from each other.

Birdie
Birdie's BlogHer Blog
La Pajaro

Karen, thank you!

Birdie Jaworski — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 22:47:54 -0500

You're right - my Dad's advice was rotten to the core. It took me many years to realize that he meant well, that he wanted me to have an easy life. Of course I didn't take any easy path. We do what we do. And I'm just glad I'm writing today. YAY!

Birdie
Birdie's BlogHer Blog
La Pajaro

Words in a Row: Write with Birdie

Birdie Jaworski — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 08:52:09 -0500

Ninth grade bored the hell outta me until Mr. Adamski caught me carving my wooden desk with a dull Girl Scout penknife, caught me marking territory with a tool as deliberate as a male bulldogâ€™s piss. I rubbed soft graphite into the cat scratch arroyo until it shone dull black ache.

BJ loves DF

I carved a heart, an arrow, an impossibility. Dean loved cheerleader Cindy with the feathered hair, didnâ€™t notice me and the tarnished saxophone I hauled to school.

â€œMs. Jaworski.â€

He blew out the Ms. on a long exhale with an accent just west of Boston. My New England town grew teachers like him, second-generation Polish with a deep respect of education. He must have been twenty-eight years old, twenty-nine. His hair hung in oily ringlets around the collar of his Nehru jacket, and he wore tight striped pants over dirty Earth shoes. I stared at those shoes, at the brown crepe soles, didnâ€™t meet his eyes.

Mr. Adamski held out his hand. I handed him the weapon and kissed my afternoon goodbye.

â€œMs. Jaworski. Iâ€™m giving you detention. Iâ€™ll see you at 3.â€

I slumped into his homeroom after the last bell. The room seemed to shrug its shoulders. I was no stranger to detention. I slid into my desk and open a manila folder labeled with my name.

You may think English is boring. Hereâ€™s your chance to make it exciting. Write a story about a giant cockroach. Leave it on my desk.

A giant cockroach? A giant cockroach?! I rolled my eyes. The room giggled. I ripped a page from my wire-bound notebook and began to write. My pencil caught the dips in my desk, the scars I created. The paper snagged. I still remember my first sentence.

Most people in this town donâ€™t realize the High School principal has a secret life as an undercover cockroach.

This time I giggled with the room. Mr. Cionovich unzipped his human suit most evenings, chased dogs, tortured a cheerleader who looked suspiciously like Cindy, danced with a chicken bone in one hooked appendage. I didnâ€™t know Kafka, but I wrote with him, feasted with him on rich description dripping with melted expectation, wrote with the kind of pathos only those age thirteen with acne can ever understand.

I left Mr. Adamski a thousand words, two thousand words, each letter slightly larger than the one prior, until the final pages contained prose so fast, so rounded, as huge as my sly spy cockroach that he must have had to stand on the opposite side of the room to read it.

â€œDad! Dad!â€

I slammed the door behind me, ran to my father. He sat in the kitchen, the newspaper spread across the picnic table at which we ate every meal. I slid onto the bench beside him.

â€œDad! I know what I wanna be! I wanna be a writer!â€

I grinned. My hands shook from fatigue, from the discovery they could do more than level scars and honk out glowworm on the sax. My father cleared his throat. He didnâ€™t stop reading. His eyes moved evenly, slowly across a column detailing the recent Town Hall meeting. I counted three blinks.

â€œBirdie, writers are a dime a dozen. Youâ€™ll never make it as a writer. Donâ€™t bother trying. Youâ€™ll just end up let down. Great writers are rare. Youâ€™re not one of them. Better to study science. Thereâ€™s money in science. Thereâ€™s no money in writing.â€

I didnâ€™t smile when Mr. Adamski gave me the thumbs up during my next English class. I didnâ€™t write another word for twenty years.

Maybe youâ€™re like me. Maybe writing seems like the gift of the blessed, of the achingly smart. Maybe you think you donâ€™t have what it takes to tell a good story. Maybe someone told you your prose stunk rotten skunk cabbage. Iâ€™m here to tell you different, to show you different. A few years ago I decided Dime A Dozen was just fine, thank you very much. I grabbed a pen. Cockroaches, beware!

Welcome to Words in a Row. Each Tuesday, I will present a new writing lesson. These wonâ€™t be your typical writing prompts. They wonâ€™t discuss grammar or spelling. Iâ€™m going to take your hand, your heart, and hand you a giant cockroach. Writers of all styles, â€œlevelsâ€ (ugh, donâ€™t believe in that anyway), and expectations welcome. I will highlight some wonderful examples of writing from the BlogHer blogroll at the end of each lesson. And I want to see your writing, too! These lessons will include as much discussion as you want and need â€œafter classâ€ in the comments section.

Words in a Row schedule through July:

July 17: Bad Ideas

Everyone who writes gets the million-buck question from at least one person: â€œWhere do you get your ideas?â€ When first faced with writerâ€™s block, I discovered a new way of looking at my search for ideas.

July 24: Animal, Mineral, Vegetable?

Every story needs an anchor. How to find the central person, place, or thing that gives your story meaning, depth.

July 31: Outline or Go with the Flow?

Some writers despise outlining, swear it hinders creativity. Others canâ€™t complete a work without a solid skeleton set to paper. How to find the method of crafting a story that works best for you, and one surprising idea I bet youâ€™ve never, ever tried.

Birdie Jaworski blogs at La Pajaro. Birdie teaches writing to seventh and eighth graders at an Expeditionary Learning school. Her book of New Mexican short stories is being published this fall.